ARNOLD KLING: Some libertarian basics: “From a libertarian perspective, your generosity is reflected in what you do with your own money, not in what you do with other people’s money.”
Archive for 2009
April 9, 2009
LOST IN THE REAL WORLD, found via cyberspace.
LOTS OF REPORTING FROM The New York Auto Show.
TOP TEN Volcanic Eruptions.
IN THE MAIL: From Steven Milloy, Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Ruin Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them.
FRANK J. FLEMING ASKS THE TOUGH QUESTIONS: Obama vs. Kim Jung Il: Who Is the Greater Leader?
ASK DR. HELEN: The Insta-Wife and Amy Alkon talk about “gotcha” pregnancies and men’s rights.
PORKBUSTERS UPDATE: Flake Uses Lobbying Scandal To Push Earmark Case:
A growing scandal over a lobbying firm specializing in defense issues has given U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake his latest target in an ongoing crusade against earmarks.
The fifth-term congressman, an ardent fiscal conservative who has at times bucked even his own party’s leadership, has offered seven privileged resolutions to various spending measures seeking an investigation into the PMA Group, a lobbying firm with close ties to several powerful members of Congress.
PMA Group, which was raided by the FBI in November, was run by former aides to Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., chairman of the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee, and several other top Democrats.
The committee handles all defense spending measures, making it one of the most lucrative targets for lobbyists. In 2008, PMA earned $13.5 million for its lobbying efforts. The company has secured $113 million in contracts for its clients since 1998. . . . Other top defense appropriators, including Reps. Pete Visclosky, D-Ind.; Norm Dicks, D-Wash., and Jim Moran, D-Va., have also been major recipients of the lobbying firm’s contributions. In 2008, CRP data show PMA gave $237,500 to Democrats and $141,000 to Republicans.
The firm’s founder, Paul Magliocchetti, was a former chief of staff in Murtha’s congressional office, while two other PMA lobbyists served in the same capacity for Visclosky and Moran.
In the wake of the scandal, which has shut down PMA Group and led many of its lobbyists to open a new firm not associated with Magliocchetti, Flake has stepped in to try and force an investigation.
Read the whole thing. Plus, questions about Rep. Norm Dicks and PMA.
POOR POWER FACTOR: CFLs causing utility problems.
HMM: Calorie-Burning Fat? Studies Say You Have It. “Their papers, appearing Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine, indicate that nearly every adult has little blobs of brown fat that can burn huge numbers of calories when activated by the cold, like sitting in a chilly room that is between 61 and 66 degrees.”
FOREBODINGS OF DOOM from the Underwear Indicator.
BILL QUICK EXPLAINS how to end the partisan divide.
SHOULD LAW SCHOOLS OFFER COURSES IN STATE CONSTITUTIONAL LAW? I’m prejudiced, of course, since I teach one of those. But I’d say yes. First, it has more practice relevance than most people think, especially where business clients are involved since state constitutions often focus much more on money issues. Second, state constitutions are interesting, and studying them helps remind students that constitutions are made things, the product of human action, which the reification of the federal constitution often obscures. And today’s state constitutional issue — gay marriage, sodomy, the right to arms — is often tomorrow’s federal constitutional issue, to boot.
CITY COUNCIL CUE CARDS. For when you aren’t big-league enough to afford a teleprompter, I guess.
PENTAGON PREPS for economic warfare.
I’M TOLD THAT MARK LEVIN’S Liberty and Tyranny will remain #1 on the New York Times bestseller list for another week.
WHAT TO DO ABOUT PIRATES: Apparently, “legal questions” are a problem. Funny that nation-states successfully suppressed pirates for years without such troubles, suggesting that the law has not exactly “progressed” in this area.
CHICAGO TEA PARTY ORGANIZERS REJECT A SPEAKING BID FROM MICHAEL STEELE. This illustrates two things. First, the increasing haplessness of Steele, who hasn’t performed nearly as well as I’d expected. And, more significantly, the growth of the Tea Party movement as a grassroots outside-the-establishment phenomenon that has become so big that establishment figures are trying to jump onboard. This is what Tucson Tea Party organizer Robert Mayer said yesterday — it’s gone from hoping a few people would show up, to having to turn down speaking offers from big names.
UPDATE: Incumbentitis.
OBAMA TO PUSH IMMIGRATION BILL: But why bother, when we obviously already have a successful “path to citizenship?”
THE PROBLEM WITH CHRIS DODD: “I have to say, the worst allegation I’ve heard about Chris Dodd is not that he’s in the pocket of banks and insurers–financial companies naturally seek to curry favor with the Senate Banking Committee, but I don’t really see the case that he’s sold us out for his benefit. No, the more damning case is that the Senate Banking Committee was basically non-functional in the early part of the crisis, because Dodd was running for president. Even if early action could have saved us money and pain later–and that’s a big if–I recently heard a plausible case made that such action was made impossible by his presidential campaign. But somehow, no one finds that offensive, or even notable.”
His belief that he stood a chance also calls his judgment into question, it would seem.
April 8, 2009
AN ED RENDELL pay-for-play scandal?
GEOENGINEERING: “The president’s new science adviser said Wednesday that global warming is so dire, the Obama administration is discussing radical technologies to cool Earth’s air. John Holdren told The Associated Press in his first interview since being confirmed last month that the idea of geoengineering the climate is being discussed. One such extreme option includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun’s rays. Holdren said such an experimental measure would only be used as a last resort.”